Pre-Columbian Time Periods

What does Pre-Columbian mean?Pre-Columbian literally means before Columbus (pre 1492), but it is used to refer to time periods in the history of the Americas before any European influence.

What does Pre-Columbian mean?

All of the Americas were pre-Columbian before 1492, but European influence didn’t happen everywhere all at the same time. Cultures in what is now northern Canada would have been influenced much later than culture in what is now the eastern United States.

The European influence would also have been different based on what European nations claimed what territory.

EnglandFranceNetherlandsRussiaSpainUnclaimed

The problem of history in the AmericasPrehistory

The period of time before written record

How we knowWe know things about prehistory by looking at what cultures left behind like art, building, funerary artifacts, and other archaeological remains.

BenefitDrawing information from artifacts leads us closer to unbiased information about a culture.

ProblemWe don’t often have much left and have to fill in a larger picture about a culture. If a culture doesn’t leave much behind, we don’t know much. Nomadic cultures and cultures who did not use durable building materials don’t tend to leave a lot behind for us to find. These sort of cultures were prevalent in the Americas.

The problem of history in the AmericasHistory

The period of time for which we have a written record

How we knowWe still pull information from art, buildings, funerary artifacts, and other archaeological remains, but we become dependent on the information we can gather from a written record.

BenefitOnce we have a translatable written record, we know much more about a culture or civilization.

ProblemWritten records aren’t always reliable, but the bigger issue is who the written record is provided by. If it is produced by the culture, we feel we get a more accurate picture of a culture. It is more problematic if what we know is based on a written record by another culture, especially when it is a conquering and/or more powerful culture because we see that record as distorted.

The Writing about the AmericasPre-Columbian cultures who had writing

Culture Type of Writing

Olmec Geometric and pictorial hieroglyphs

Maya Logograms and syllabic glyphs

Aztec Pictographs and ideographs

Ojibwe Geometric and pictorial hieroglyphs

Mi’kmaq Logographic, alphabetic, and ideographic glyphs

Mayans

Ojibwe

Mi’kmaq

Aztec

Olmec

Time PeriodsThese are pre-Columbian time periods, and for the most part, they are prehistoric as well.

Stage Dates

Lithic Stage/Paleo-Indian Period Pre 8000BCE

Archaic Stage 8000BCE – 1000BCE

Formative Stage 1000BCE – 500CE

Classic Stage 500CE – 1200CE

Post-Classic Stage 1200 – European influence

Lithic Stage/Paleo-Indian PeriodPre 8,000 BCE

Stage Defined by

• People migrated to and spread throughout the Americas anywhere between 50,000-17,000 years ago

• Adaptations to hunt big game

• Subsidence mainly based on megafunda (mastodon and bison antiquus).

Cultures:Clovis culture Folsom Culture Plainview Culture

Archaic Stage8,000 BCE – 1,000 BCE

Stage Defined by

• Climate becomes much like the current climate

• Dramatic increase in population

• Megafunda becomes extinct.

• Shift toward dependence on more abundant vegetation

• Some development of sedentary lifestyle/organized society

• Domestication of plants/rise of agriculture in some areas

Cultures:Archaic SouthwestArtic small tool traditionPoverty Point cultureMound buildersChan-Chan cultureNorthwest Coast

Formative Stage1,000 BCE – 500 BCE

Stage Defined by

• Development of villages/permanent settlements and ceremonial centers

• Further development of agriculture

• Monumental earthworks

• Establishment of trade

• Development of technologies such as pottery and weaving

Cultures:Dorset CultureZapotec CultureMibresOlmecWoodland culturesMississippian culturesAdena culture

Classical Stage500 BCE – 1,200 CE

Stage Defined by

• Rise of complex civilizations

• Limited beginning of urbanism

• Development of more cultures that don’t achieve civilization status but are complex

• Craft Specialization

• Beginning of metallurgy

Cultures:Great Civilizations

Early MayaToltecs

Cultures that developed during this period

Hohokam peopleMogollon CultureAnasaziHopewell CultureTeotihuacan

Post Classical Stage1,200 CE – European Influence

Stage Defined by

• Possessed developed metallurgy

• Complex urbanism

• Militarism

• Secularization of society

Cultures: AztecsLate Mayans